PAD. Pages on Arts and Design

5-11

Authors: Marinella Ferrara, Chiara Lecce

The Mediterranean scenario does not stop to attract our interest and attention. We believe it is essential today to generate a convergence of actions that promotes creativity and innovation in this region, looking at the future of youth, by breaking the barriers of differences and misunderstandings between the various national realities and making the most of the difference in understanding the other. PAD #16 issue deals with the design research and practices for the Mediterranean region, according to the vision of young creative innovators, in line with the previous #14 and #15 issues. It closes the trilogy of these last three issues to launch a new way of looking at the Mediterranean challenges. We decided to shed light on the potential of the new globalized generation who wishes to take control of their future. It is by supporting the innovation capacity of youth that we will be able to advance the actual Mediterranean reality and open new perspectives on the future.

35-57

Authors: Valentina Frosini

This paper presents a practice-oriented research on intercultural education, based on an interdisciplinary process shared with design, anthropology and pedagogy. On the basis of an exploratory case study, the aim of the research was to investigate whether and how design could contribute to the theme of intercultural education in terms of innovation in kindergarten (3-6 years), thanks to the design-driven method, which has been used in a more inclusive and extended version, the design-intensive innovation. The output of the research is a series of open-ended game-tools, designed to be part of the educational programs in schools and oriented to stimulate creative learning in terms of possibility thinking. The field research was conducted within the Scuola per l’Infanzia I Gelsi di Scandiano: in terms of methodology, the Reggio Emilia approach has been used to verify the learning effects of the proposals. Conclusions report strengths and weaknesses of the project practice.

80-101

Authors: Jomana G. Attia

This paper investigates the struggles faced by Design Entrepreneurs in Cairo. After using grounded theory, general challenges arose from the codes, yet in depth understanding of the communication problems between the entrepreneurs, the designers and manufacturers in a start-up. The study took place in Cairo, where the entrepreneurial ecosystem is still emerging along the past couple of years. Six entrepreneurs were interviewed. The results exhibit most of the problems faced within the start-up and the ecosystem, also challenges emerged in terms of dealing with designers and makers in the product development phases. Understanding the struggles and the failed and successful methods of solving them helps create a foundation for design entrepreneurship. When this foundation is better established, hopefully would allow the economic status in Cairo to flourish. Due to lack of documentation, this study aims to guide design entrepreneurs struggling in Cairo, acting as reference for some of the problems and their possible solutions.

124-135

Authors: Mona A. Marie, Ahmed Wahby

The Fatimid dynasty was established in the Tenth century in what is modern day Tunis. Their capital was founded in the city of Al-Mahdya from which they expanded their realm to encompass North Africa and Egypt. They founded Cairo in 969 AD and moved the capital to this newly established centre of what was the Fatimid Caliphate. The Fatimids were known to be a lavish dynasty with a lot of pomp and exuberance. They initiated a lot of cultural activities that are still part of the Egyptian inherited culture up till today. The Fatimids also had many exchanges and influences on Sicily and Southern Italy. The Fatimids as a shi’i dynasty have left a lot of religious buildings that are still standing and functioning today, however their secular architecture is long gone. Despite many accounts on the Fatimid double palaces of Cairo, the manzaras, and the amazing throne halls, none of these buildings survive today. Consequently, this paper focuses on reconstructing the Fatimid secular architecture through historical textual narratives in books and traveller testimonials and descriptions. A visual presentation of Fatimid secular architecture is achieved through creating illustrated frames that can serve in backgrounds in printed material, or studio setups for media purposes such as television series or movies. A meticulous frame of enquiry is used in order to define the characteristics of Fatimid secular monuments and details by comparing to neighbouring regions and styles of the time. Furthermore, building techniques and terminology were examined. The resulting data is transformed into a visual language using manual sketching techniques with colored pencil and ink and edited digitally using photo editing software.

157-178

Authors: Serena Del Puglia, Viviana Trapani, Laura Galluzzo

The article deals with design experimentation in the complex and composite field of design for the culture of the territory, aimed at enhancing the particular resources common to the Mediterranean areas, through an incremental and collaborative design methodology. The town of Salemi (TP) inherited an extraordinary concentration of cultural heritage from its history; in particular the preparation and display of the decorated breads for the Festivity of San Giuseppe, occurring on March 19th, which expresses a profound religiosity and a complex rituality, shared, handed down and recognized as an intangible cultural asset to be protected. In this territorial context, a vision aimed at encouraging increasingly wider cultural and tourist growth and interested in the quality of experience has led to the design elaboration and realization of an Ecomuseo del Grano e del Pane. This is an experimentation articulated through meetings with the various territorial actors, gathering experiences and testimonies, and laboratory activities. Together with the description of the project outcome, the article intends to describe and analyze the intertwining of the many aspects that have structured the design process, based on a multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary approach “necessary” for cultural elaboration and looking at design as a multidimensional and relational discipline.